


Hang Fire

by somethingsomething



Series: Heist Family Hijinks [3]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: 5 Things, Alternate Universe - Thieves, F/M, Pseudo-Incest, Recreational Drug Use, just in case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-08 06:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4294236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingsomething/pseuds/somethingsomething
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are a lot of things to keep in mind about Chuck Hansen.  These are five of the important ones.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hang Fire

**Author's Note:**

> [hauntedjaeger](http://hauntedjaeger.tumblr.com) emailed me a couple weeks ago about how she doesn't see Wolfgang in _Sense8_ , she just sees Chuck in the heist family AU. The idea stuck.
> 
> Thanks to [Confabulatrix](http://confabulatrix.tumblr.com) for the title.

The important thing to remember about Chuck Hansen is that he's the sort to bring a grenade launcher to a knife fight. This is not a metaphor.

Mako is on a job with Hu when she hears about it.

"You gonna bail him out?" Hu asks.

"Nope," Mako says. She turns the dial on the safe a little more to the left.

"What if he asks?"

"Maybe." The tumblers in the safe click into place, and Mako turns the dial to the right.

"You two on the outs _again_?"

"Yep." Mako frowns at the safe.

Hu laughs and shakes his head. "Oh to be young again," he says.

Mako looks at him and frowns. "You're 26."

Hu just grins at her.

 

Another important thing to remember - at the ripe old age of 15 (Mako was already 16), Chuck decided, for better or for worse, that he was always going to be by Mako’s side. Mako has always thought this to be a logical conclusion.

Raleigh is at home when he learns about this. Specifically, he's in his bed, the covers kicked to the end and tangled around his feet. Mako is on her back next to him, fingers of one hand tracing patterns on the arm curved across her hips and the fingers of the other brushing through his hair.

"But your parents?" He looks almost worried as he says it.

Makos lips form a very exasperated, very fond smile.

"Relationships are very. Open, in my family. But Chuck and I were never raised as siblings."

Raleigh hums and the sound of it vibrates into her own chest. She can feel the weight of another question, but he doesn't ask.

By the time morning comes, he's either forgotten or decided not to ask.

 

A third thing - the first time Chuck meets Raleigh, he hates him.

It's nearly instant, and Mako can already feel a resigned sigh rising in her lungs. It's the sort of sigh she's huffed before, and will many, many times again, all of them in direct proximity to Chuck. It surpasses long-suffering and falls squarely into eternally suffering (but not enough to quit).

As near as she can tell, it has little to do with the way Raleigh looks at her (like she hung the sun and moon and stars) and a lot to do with the way that a washed-up has-been is stepping in on his (and Mako’s) run for a bomb that doesn't need to make it to where it's headed.

Later, she lets Raleigh give Chuck the busted lip he's been looking for because Raleigh is standing closer to Chuck than she is.

 

Less importantly, Chuck works well on a system of punishment and reward.

His favorite reward is sleeping in Mako’s bed. His least favorite punishment is getting kicked out. It's the needling feeling he hates the most, sharp points sticking up through his skin that make it difficult to sleep.

After a while, with enough conditioning, Chuck doesn't mind Raleigh being there, too. After a while, that old needling feeling comes up when the bed is only two-thirds full, too. It’s still the worst when Mako’s the one missing.

 

Finally:

Dinner at the Pentecost-Hansen(-Mori-Wei) household is chaotic on a good day. They've run out of words to describe what it's like on Christmas.

Cheung, Hu and Jin are all in the kitchen juggling chopped vegetables while Angela and Vanessa dance around them and each other. Stacker stands watch by the oven with it’s goose turning golden and crispy inside. Sasha and Aleksis have commandeered the liquor cabinet.

Mako spots Chuck standing outside on the patio and ducks around a laughing Tendo to slip into her jacket and out the door.

Chuck looks over when the door shuts. “Hey,” he says. He’s dressed for the cold, the little bit of snow still falling collecting in the fibers of a beanie she knows is Raleigh’s. The joint she and Raleigh had started smoking last night is lit between his fingers. Idly, she supposes Chuck must’ve snuck it out of her jacket pocket on his way out the kitchen door.

Mako smiles and stands close enough that he lifts his arm and settles it across her shoulders to let her closer. He passes the joint to her.

Mako inhales and hands it back with the smoke still in her lungs. Half-way through Chuck’s inhale, Mako breathes out and says, “Hiding in the snow and getting stoned at Christmas Dinner? For shame, Chuck.”

Chuck glares at her, but doesn’t blow the smoke in her face. “Says the girl out in the snow smoking a joint.”

Mako shrugs and takes the joint. Halfway through his next drag, Chuck says, “The noise was getting to my ears.”

“Tinnitus still acting up?”

Chuck hums and passes the joint.

“Is that common for people who shoot grenade launchers?”

He glares at her again. Mako stares out across the yard and takes another pull. Her muscles feel a little loose.

Finally, “Yeah, probably. I wasn’t exactly thinking of ear plugs at the time.” He takes another drag and settles more against Mako and the wall. “Thanks, by the way,” he says, quiet. “For bailing me out, eventually.”

Mako smiles softly and takes one more pull. “Angela didn’t want you missing Christmas.”

Chuck snorts. “Either way, thanks.”

Mako presses closer as she stubs what’s left of the joint out on the brick wall. “You’re welcome,” she says.

Inside, as they’re hanging up their jackets and checking to make sure they don’t smell terrible, she leans up and whispers into his ear. “You can come home with me, if you want.”

Chuck shivers (just a little, never too much, he holds his cards close) and makes a move like he’s going to press her against the wall right then and there, with the entire family five feet away, but Mako just grins and half-dances away. Chuck groans and follows after her.


End file.
